


A Single Step

by beadedslipper



Category: Arrow (TV 2012)
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fix-It, Fluff, spoilers for 3x07
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-11-23
Updated: 2014-11-23
Packaged: 2018-02-26 18:50:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2662610
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beadedslipper/pseuds/beadedslipper
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Oliver walks in on Felicity and Ray.  Spoilers for 3x07.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Single Step

**Author's Note:**

> So, I know the slow burn and the angst is actually a good sign for us Olicity shippers. If they got together now it would never last. But that doesn’t make watching Oliver watch Felicity kiss Palmer any less painful. And so I was looking for fics to read that would fix it. And ended up writing one instead. My first Olicity fic! Hope you guys like!

Oliver rounded the bend towards his office, Felicity’s office, in Queen Consolidated (he refused to refer to it as Palmer Industries), Diggle’s words about not waiting too long and, oddly, Carrie’s words about love being the cure, ringing in his ears, only to recoil at the sight of Felicity in Palmer’s arms.

He couldn’t help but stare for a moment, transfixed in morbid fascination as the woman he loved kissed another man.  Well, he said he wanted her to be happy.  This was nothing more than what he deserved.

Still, he knew the feeling of the skin of her neck under his fingers, the softness of her hair against the backs of his hands, the cling of her lips against his own.  He knew it enough to be heart-breakingly jealous of Palmer and he could only hope the man knew just how lucky he was to have a woman like Felicity.

If only Oliver had known that sooner, maybe he could be the one standing there in her arms.

It was too much and he turned on his heel to go, already beginning to shut his feelings for Felicity away in a little box, never to be opened again.  It only took two words, two little words, to have him freezing in his tracks.

“Ray, wait.”

Her voice was rough and breathless, but clear.  Oliver immediately froze, listening intently to see if Ray would show his true colors and ignore her wishes.  Oliver would pound him into the pavement, and gladly, if that were the case.

But no, he could already hear Palmer apologizing.

“I’m sorry.  I meant for tonight to stay…platonic.”

“No, that’s not it.” She was quick to reassure him, always putting others ahead of herself.  “It’s just…I know I told you I wanted more out of life, but…”

“But not with me.” Ray finished dejectedly.  The hope in Oliver’s chest flared to life.

“No!” Her vehement denial had that hope being quashed all over again.  “At least…not exactly.  It’s just…I’m still hoping for more with…someone else.”

“Lucky guy.” Palmer muttered.

Felicity chuckled and the chagrin in her voice made Oliver’s breath catch.  “Yeah, tell that to him.  He’s already…well he’s already made up his mind and not in the way that I want.  I’m just waiting for my heart to get the memo.  I hope…you can understand?”

From the brief silence and Felicity’s quiet intake of breath Oliver could just imagine Palmer gently cupping her cheek, turning her overbright eyes upward so he could look into them.  It’s what Oliver would be doing, has done, on multiple occasions.

“I understand.”  He listens to the sound of Italian leather footsteps pulling away.  “But, for the record, any man who turns you down is an idiot.”

Palmer earned a watery chuckle for that and Oliver quickly ducked into an alcove, watching Palmer exit Felicity’s office with narrowed eyes.

He peeked into the office to see Felicity collapsing into her desk chair, releasing a heavy sigh and covering her eyes with her hands.  She groaned at the ceiling, her frustration with herself clear and Oliver couldn’t help but crack a smile.  Careful not to startle her, he crept into the room.

“He’s right you know.”

She gasped, sitting bolt upright to stare at him like a deer in the headlights.  “Oliver?”

“About me being an idiot I mean.”

“Oliver, what are you doing here?”

“I came because I was hoping you believed in second chances.” He said hopefully.

She breathed in slowly through her nose.  “What…exactly…do you mean by that?  And Oliver, please be specific, none of this dancing around, answering without answering nonsense okay because that just gets frustrating.”

He hesitated.  Briefly.  But this was the reason he was here, wasn’t it?  If he was going to do this, for real, then it couldn’t be halfway, not anymore.  If the little scene with Palmer had taught him anything it’s that Felicity was a desirable woman, not that he needed Ray Palmer to figure out something like that, but she wasn’t going to wait around forever for him to get his act together.

And so he did the only thing he could do, the one thing that came so difficult to him.

He told her the truth.

“I came here because I want to give us a second chance.  I love you Felicity.”

She just stared at him for a second.  Then she pushed herself slowly to her feet, taking a couple careful steps towards him.

“Let me get this straight.  You came all this way to tell me something I’ve been practically begging you to say for months, after telling me it would never work out between us, on the one night that another man finally shows some interest in me?”

He shuffled his feet sheepishly, which, under different circumstances, would be absolutely hilarious, for someone as large and muscled as Oliver to look…sheepish.  But Felicity would not be distracted!

“Um…yes.”

“I thought you said you had to be alone.”

He flinched at his own words from earlier that night.

“I thought I did.  I thought that’s what would be best.  But, honestly, I’m miserable.  I’ve forced myself to be alone for so long because I thought that would keep the people I love safe.  But they get hurt anyway.  Roy, Thea, my mother…they got hurt regardless of whether I was with them.  And you.  I’m actively hurting you by not being with you.  So I’m done.  It’s time to try and…find another way.  I’d like to find it with you.”

She stared at him, silent for once.

“If you don’t feel the same way, tell me now and I promise I’ll never bring it up again.  We can go back to being just partners…friends.”

Her eyes darted away from him and her teeth peeked out to bite her pink lower lip.

He took a deep breath, hope filling his chest until it felt like bursting.  “But, if you do feel the same way, I have to tell you Felicity Smoak, that I’m crazy about you.  I think I have been from the moment I walked into your office.”

She still didn’t say anything.  Her teeth worried her lower lip and her brows were furrowed.  He could see pragmatism and hope warring in her eyes.  Her heart wanted her to say yes, but her experience and his track record had her hesitating and she said as much.

“Why now?  Why are you ready this time when you weren’t before?  Is it just because I’m finally moving on?  Because Oliver, if you’re afraid of losing me, as a friend or as a partner, you won’t.   If this isn’t what you want, you don’t have to do this.”

Her self-sacrificing words only reinforced just how much he had screwed things up and before he could stop himself he stumbled forward, clasping her hands tightly in his.

“No Felicity.  No.”  He shook his head vehemently, his voice low and earnest.  “It’s not that.  Was I jealous, seeing you with Palmer, watching him give you all the things I should be giving you?  I won’t lie.  It was…upsetting.” If by upsetting he meant rage-inducing.  “But all I’ve ever wanted is for you to be happy.  And I was convinced that you couldn’t be happy with me.”

“So you pushed me away.”

“Yes.” He agreed.

“But you decided for me.  You decided, without my input, what would make me happy and what I deserved.  Let’s get one thing straight Oliver Queen, you don’t decide things for me.  It’s my life, my choice.  Just like always.  And you have to respect that.”

She met his eyes for the first time and hers were blazing with determination.  He nodded once, sharply.

“Swear.” She commanded.

“I promise.” He whispered, low and husky.

She nodded, satisfied.  “Well, in that case…” She slipped her hands out of his.  Until that moment he hadn’t realized that his fingers were still wrapped around hers.  She slid her hands up his arms until they rested on his biceps and used them as leverage to pull herself up onto her toes until her lips were centimeters from his.  “I think we deserve a second chance at a first kiss.”

As soon as her lips touched his something settled into place in Oliver.  Since the island everything had been muzzy and he had been looking at life through a thin lens until this moment.  But, like every moment since he met her, Felicity provided clarity simply by being present.  This moment was no different.

As her lips met and clung and brushed across his he could see their whole future together, full of laughs and partnership and so, so much love.

Slowly they came apart until she rested in the wreath of his arms, their chests pressed together so they could each feel the rise and fall as they caught their breath.  He bent until his forehead touched hers.

“I’m sorry it took me so long to get here.”

She tilted her head and grinned.  “Don’t worry.  I’ll let you make it up to me.”


End file.
